This ’n’ That by Nicky De Lange

This ‘n’ That

Nicky De Lange

In last week’s column I brought up the topic of Nessler Park’s missing workout stations. As I mentioned then, there were about 6-8 exercise stations scattered along the Rotary Fitness Trail. But suddenly one day while walking the trail, my husband and I noticed they were gone. Vanished. All of them. Overnight.
All that remained were bare patches of dirt about 6’ x 6’, pictured right.
I contacted the city Recreation and Tourism Department to find out what happened. For long-time local residents, this used to be the Parks and Recreation Department. I’m not sure if Recreation and Tourism is even the correct and most up-to-date title, but let’s just go with that for the moment.
A very helpful staff member did some checking for me and gave me an updated report on the who, what, where, how and why of the disappearing workout stations. Good news for those of you who use those exercise areas – the city decided to pull the old equipment and will be replacing it with new workout stations as soon as it quits raining.
A big thank you to whatever city employee/department head okayed this improvement. I’ve seen people using these fitness areas frequently when I’ve been walking the Nessler Park trails. It’s great to see our tax dollars being used for something so positive, and it’s available for use at no cost to anyone visiting Nessler Park.
Now if the city of Texas City could just get it to quit raining so this new equipment could be installed … Most of Galveston County has had more than its share of precipitation in recent weeks. I think, at least for the moment, that the drought is over in our area. So those of you who have been praying for rain might want to ease up on those prayers for just a while, and anyone doing a rain dance might also want to give it a rest.
As I’m writing this column, it’s Sunday evening, and it’s thundering and raining outside. Enough already! Our street, on the north side of Texas City, keeps flooding curb to curb, which it almost never does. Our back yard has standing water in several areas, also something that rarely occurs.
We may not have to have restrictions put on the use of water this summer. As it is now, no one can mow a lawn without the mower sinking into the mud. My potted plants need water wings. On the bright side, though, everyone’s lawn is green, not brown, a wonderful improvement over last year.
Unfortunately, all this unexpected rain means the city of Texas City will have to put those wonderful new workout stations on hold, probably for a few weeks. The ground is pretty saturated at the park at the moment, making installation impossible.
Until things dry out, the only use I can think of for those water-logged areas would be mud wrestling pits.
And that is definitely not a pretty picture.